I'm still hesitating on the fence here: I've spent the last 4 days playing with different key bindings on the HOTAS to make the whole experience feel intuitive rather than intrusive and seem to have failed miserably. I've jumped into over 30 systems and used the scanners and features both intensively and haphazardly to simulate a long exploration hike. My impression based on nothing more than a feel for how I like to play based around immersion and role-play is that the FSS and the probe mechanic while individually interesting as minor game-play mechanics fundamentally break immersion for me and add a level of mini-game which I am not used to.
In a nut-shell, I am now switching between HUD-modes, scanner-modes and screen modes like a poker player shuffling cards. It's fiddly and breaks a smooth game-play arc which I am used to and now miss. As a VR player (and the VR implementation is woeful at best here), I love sitting in the pilot's sit and gazing around out of the canopy. Yes, I switch to the system map after the initial honk but that used to be the only switch-out from that seat. I almost didn't notice doing it - and it may be that after a while this will all seem intuitive also. At the moment, however, it doesn't. It breaks that immersion as I am now in the pilot's seat, then the FSS screen, then the system map, then super-cruising to a planet, then into the HUD mode for the probes, out again, in again, out, in, landing to spot a geyser field, and so on.
Add to this the lack of any exploration content as yet and it all feels mechanistic for its own sake. Does firing the probes look cool? Yes. But I remember Mass Effect and this is a cousin to that game mechanic. Is the FSS an interesting mechanic in its own terms? Yes but it is hardly challenging - quite the opposite: there is no skill set to be learned here. It's a jazzed up mini-game which has nice sound effects. It reminds me of a mini-game in a Final Fantasy game (VII, I think).
The moment I ditch the FSS and have no need of the probes, settle back in the seat and then gaze out of the plexi-glass canopy is when this game shines for me. Every time I am in a mini-game pretending to 'discover' something I am cursing the VR headset and FDs poor implementation of VR.
However, that all aside, I am still persevering as I know much of this may just be nostalgia and a stubbornness born out of an irrational fear of change. I do realise that. I am not that interested in 'discovering' things. I am far more interested in 'exploring' things - the first attempted summit of Mount Neverest, for example, which led to me SRVing into low orbit. The FSS and the probes are discovery mechanics and only one half of a coin. Now let's see the exploration half once the update is live to really appreciate the change in depth.